Message from England - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

#1 03-21-2003, 08:57 PM

An interesting article from an English newspaper:

This from Tony Parsons of the Daily Mirror (a notoriously left-wing daily).

Tony Parsons, Daily Mirror, September 11, 2002

One year ago, the world witnesed a unique kind of broadcasting, the mass murder of thousands, live on television. As a lesson in the pitiless cruelty of the human race, September 11 was up there with Pol Pot's Mouintain of Skulls in Cambodia, or the skeletal bodies stacked like garbage in the Nazi concentration camps. An unspeakable act so cruel, so calculated, and so utterly merciless that surely the world would agree, on one thing, nobody deserves this fate.

Surely there could be a consensus: The victimes were truly innocent, the perpetrators truly evil. But to the world's erternal shame, 9/11 is increasingly seen as America's comeuppance. Incredibly, anti-Americanism has increased over the last year. There has always been a simmering resentment to the USA in this country; too loud, too rich, too full of themselves, and so much happier than Europeans- but it has become an epidemic. And it seems incredible to me. More than that, it turns my stomach.

America is this country's greatest friend and our staunchest ally. We are bonded to the US by culture, language, and blood. Have all of you forgotten??

A little over half a century ago, around half a million Americans died for our freedoms, as well as their own. Have we forgotten so soon? And exactly a year ago, thousands of ordinary men, women and children- not just Americans, but from dozens of countries, were butchered by a small group of religious finatics! Are we so quick to betray them? What touched the heart about those who died in the Twin Towers and on the planes, was that we recognized them.

Young fathers and mothers, somebody's son and somebody's daughter, husbands, wives, and children, some yet unborn. And these people brought it on themselves? Their nation is to blame for thir meticulously planned slaughter?? These days you don't have to be some dust-incrusted nut job in Kabul or Karachi or Finsbury Park, to see America as the Great Satan. The anti-American alliance is made up of the self loathing liberals who blame America for every ill in the Third World, and conservatives suffering from power envy, bitter that the world's only super power can do what it likes without having to ask for permission.

The truth is that America has behaved with enormous restraint since September 11. Remember, remember - Remember the gut-wrenching tapes of weeping men phoning their wives to say, "I love you," just before they were burned alive. Remember those people jumping to their deaths from the top of burning skyscrapers. Remember the hundreds of firemen buried alive. Remember the smiling face of that beuatiful ittle girl who was on one of the planes with her mum.

Remember, remember- And realize that America has never retaliated for 9/11 in anything like the way it could have. So a few al-Qaeda tourists got locked up without a trial in Camp x-Ray? Pass the Kleenex...So some Afghan wedding receptions were shot up after they merrily fired their semiautomatics in the sky full of American planes? A shame, but maybe next time, they should stick to confetty.

[Remainder in next post due to size contstraints...]

#2 03-21-2003, 09:18 PM

Continued

AMERICA could have turned a large chunk of the world, into a debris filled parking lot. That it didn't, is a sign of stregnth. American voices are already being raised against attacking Iraq- that's what a democracy is for. How many in an Islamic world will have a minute's silence for the slaughtered innocents of 9/11? How many Islamic leaders will have the guts to say that the mass murder of 9/11 was an abomination?

When the news of 9/11 broke on the West Bank, those freedom loving Palastinians were dancing in the street. America watched all of that- and didn't push the button. We should thank the stars that America is the most powerful nation in the world. I still find it incredible that 9/11 did not provoke all-out war. Not a "war on terrorism." A real war.

The fundamentalist dudes are talking about "opening that gates of hell," if America attacks Iraq. Well, America could have opened the gates of hell like you wouldn't believe. The US is the most miltarily powerful nation that ever strode the face of the earth. The campaign in Afaganistan may have been less than perfect and the planned war on Iraq may be micsonceived.

But don't blame America for not bringing peace and light to these wretched countries. How many democracies are there in the Middle East, or in the Muslim world? You can count them on the fingers of one hand- provided you haven't had any chopped off for minor shoplifting.

I love America, yet America is hated. I guess that makes me Bush's poodle. But I would rather be a dog in New York City than a Prince in Riyadh.

Above all, America is hated because it is what every country wants to be- rich, free, strong, open, optimistic. Not ground down by the past, or religion, or some caste system.

America is the best friend this country ever had and we should start remembering that. Or do you really think the US is the root of all evil? Tell it to the loved ones of all the men and women who leaped to their death from the burning Towers. Tell it to the nursing mothers whose husbands died on one of the hijacked planes, or were ripped apart in a collapsing skyscraper. And tell it to the hundreds of young widows whose husbands worked for the New York Fire Deptartment.

To our shame, George Bush gets worse press than Saddam Hussein. Once we were told that Saddam gassed the Kurds, tortured his own people and set up rape-camps in Kuwait. Now we are told he likes Quality Street. Save me the orange center, Oh Mighty One!

Remember, remember, September 11 - One of the greatest atrocities in human history was committed against America. No, more than remember; never, never forget! And please pass this on. Let's make sure that people all over the World read this.

STORMINORMAN · #3 03-21-2003, 09:30 PM

...LoooooonnnnnG memories!

Which is more than you can say for the Government of France!

mikemover · #4 03-23-2003, 11:48 PM

I saw that letter quite a while ago, and was very moved by it. At least someone remembers! I'd like to think there are more of those people than the media coverage of protesters would lead us to believe. Thanks for posting it.

Mike

Frank X. Morris · #5 03-24-2003, 12:15 AM

Howdy All,
Great letter!¡ Maybe that should be written on leaflets and spread around. Maybe they should be written in French?¿

#6 03-24-2003, 12:23 AM

Leaflets.... great idea!! And we can drop them on all the protesters while we're at it!